As publishedOct. 24-Dec. 24, 2026 and Dec. 26, 2026-Feb. 28, 2027 (Junior/mentored: Oct. 10-18, 2026)
Male and female pheasants may be taken in all WMUs.A Pheasant Permit is required for most pheasant hunters. No open season in any Wild Pheasant Recovery Area (WPRA) except by executive order. Junior/mentored season Oct. 10-18, 2026 (same limits).
Most PA pheasant hunting occurs on PGC-stocked birds outside any Wild Pheasant Recovery Area (WPRA), with no dedicated forward-looking forecast beyond the retrospective Game Take Survey. But PGC does run genuine, currently-active wild-population monitoring inside the WPRAs (Central Susquehanna, Franklin County): a PGC newsroom article directly fetched this pass, dated October 6, 2025, confirms 'springtime pheasant crowing surveys in these areas were below the population estimate trend at which hunting would be authorized' for the 2025-26 season -- real, current monitoring with no discrete published numeric report found. No open season exists in any WPRA except by executive order regardless.